A collection of best practice articles to help grow companies with an emphasis on finance. The goal of the blog is to explain how these best practices work, enabling anyone to put these ideas to immediate use. Articles are written by Matt H. Evans, CPA, CMA, CFM

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NOTE: Effective January 1, 2017, I will no longer post new articles since I am now fully retired.

Friday, December 11, 2015

The Three Most Important Skills

It was said
some 20 years ago by the Education President, George H. W. Bush that everyone
should be able to: Speak, Write and
Think. These are the three most important skills everyone should have. Why
are these skills so important? Because they are the most transferable skills a
person will use throughout their life. These skills also create the widest
range of opportunities for people in a world where specific job related skills
can become obsolete. And if you don’t think you need transferable skills, then
consider that the average American will go through 10 to 14 jobs by the age of
38. One out of every four workers has been on the job one year or less
according to the Department of Labor.

One good place
to start in developing these skills is to read.
As the American historian David McCullough once said: “You are what you read.” People
who read are reading someone else's writing and this in turn helps you become
smart and develop your writing skills. As you develop your writing skills, this
rolls over into speaking and thinking. When you read, you are preparing
yourself for speaking and decision making. Therefore, reading is a fundamental
building block and if you can’t read, you are most likely stuck. Consider the
following facts: 1) Two thirds of students who cannot read proficiently either end up in jail or on welfare; and 2) Three out of every four people on welfare cannot read.

It’s worth
noting that the more types of reading materials (catalogs, magazines,
newsletters, etc.)you have in the
house, the higher the reading proficiency of those who live in the house. As you begin to read more, spend time writing.
Writing is essential to getting a job, winning a proposal, and communicating
complex problems. Writing is how businesses communicate information. The most
important decisions are made based on what is written. Writing also dominates
social media and how you write is how others will perceive you. Writing also
forces you to think, filtering through ideas and putting your thoughts together
in a coherent and concise way.

“There is a problem we find in our
government, in our schools, and in our families. It affects every country in
the world and every citizen in them. We invest years of our lives and billions
of dollars in an attempt to solve it. Big companies battle it. Nonprofits dread
it. It’s big. It’s everywhere. So the greatest problem in the world requires
the greatest solution in the world: an immediate and widespread increase in
human connection. And words are a darn good place to start.” – Magic Words
by Tim David

In today’s
sound bite world where key decision makers have little time, you have to be
able to speak. Speaking is not easy. It requires that you convey a wide range
of qualities:

Speaking with confidence, but also having some
humility by listening and adjusting your conversation

Being extremely clear and concise so that others
can clearly understand what you are saying

Communicating from the other person’s
perspective so that you connect and hold the person’s interest

Recognizing the importance of body language –
you are face to face with others and they will pick up on your expressions,
tone, and visual cues

The third
and final skill is thinking. If you read, then spend some time writing and interacting
with people. This positions you to think. The key here is to think with your
whole brain. Most of us, including myself, are skewed too much on either the
left side of the brain or the right side. Left brain thinking people tend to be
analytical, logical thinkers, and very business centric. Right brain thinking
people are more creative, free flowing and act on their intuition. For example,
you may encounter situations where there is very little information, forcing
you to use your right brain. If you try to use your left brain where no
information is available, you will struggle. Likewise, if you can collection
data about the situation and analyze it, you can reach a more logical decision.

“The inadequacies in what someone says will
not always leap out at you. You must be an active reader and listener. You can
do this by asking questions. The best search strategy is a critical-questioning
strategy. A powerful advantage of these questions is that they permit you to
ask searching questions even when you know very little about the topic being
discussed. For example, you do not need to be an expert on childcare to ask
critical questions about the adequacy of day-care centers.” – Asking the
Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking by M. Neil Browne and Stuart
M. Keeley

Today’s
world tends to be overloaded with information. So perhaps one of the best
skills to master is critical thinking. Asking questions is the key to critical
thinking. Similar to a child, critical thinkers are curious, always learning
and building their knowledge base. The challenge is to be free from bias which
requires consideration of all viewpoints.In some cases, you may have to defer a decision until you’ve had a chance
to hear the other side.Once you have
considered all the evidence from various sources, you can then apply reasoning
and reach a conclusion. Think of yourself as a judge in a court room, listening
to both arguments, weighing the evidence, and then making an informed decision.

Because our
world is so connected, knowing how to write and speak is incredibly important.
If you couple this with thinking skills, you should be able to manage every
major challenge you will encounter in life. People who can master these skills
are poised for great success.